Pisachini planthoppers of Vietnam: new records of and a new species from Central Vietnam (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Nogodinidae).

Two planthopper species of the family Nogodinidae are added to the fauna of Vietnam, both from two localities in Thua Thien-Hue Province: Bach Ma National Park and Phong Dien District. The first species belongs to Meng, Wang & Wang, 2014, Constant & Pham, , and the second belongs to Distant, 1906, Meng, Wang & Wang, 2014. was previously recorded from Hainan Island, China.

Geochemical processes, salinity sources and utility characterization of groundwater in a semi-arid region of Iraq through geostatistical and isotopic techniques.

Identifying factors contributing to water salinity is paramount in efficiently managing limited water resources in arid environments. The primary objective of this study is to enhance understanding regarding the hydrochemistry, source, and mechanism of water salinity, as well as to assess the suitability of water for various uses in southern Iraq. The groundwater samples were collected from water wells and springs and analyzed for major cations and anions along with stable isotopes (δO and δH) to accomplish the objective.

A preliminary study on benthic nutrient exchange across sediment-water interfaces in a shallow marine protected area of the Northwestern Arabian Gulf.

Sedimentary processes are expected to play a crucial role in macronutrient cycling of the shallow Arabian Gulf. To investigate this aspect, sediment cores were collected from the shallow intertidal and subtidal expanses of the first Marine Protected Area (MPA) of Kuwait in the Northwestern Arabian Gulf (NAG). Porewater nutrient profiling and whole core incubation experiments were conducted to measure the nutrient fluxes, both with and without the addition of the nitrification inhibitor allylthiourea (ATU).

Physician resilience and perceived quality of care among medical doctors with training in psychosomatic medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic: a quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Background: At an individual level, physician resilience protects against burnout and against its known negative effects on individual physicians, patient safety, and quality of care. However, it remains uncertain whether physician resilience also correlates with maintaining a high level of healthcare quality during crises such as a pandemic. This study aimed to investigate whether higher resilience among physicians, who had received training in resilience-related competences in the past, would be associated with higher quality of care delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambrosia grayi as a new alien causal species in Israel: plant biology and chemical management.

Background: Ambrosia grayi is a perennial weed native to northern Mexico, which can also be found in the Great Plains of the US. Outside the Americas, A. grayi has only been documented in Israel, where it is currently categorized as a casual species at advanced eradication stages.

High-throughput RNA dataset of viral transcripts associated with chickens from various poultry farms in North and South Kuwait.

Screening of poultry using RNA sequencing could enable the timely detection and identification of emerging viral pathogens, facilitating proactive measures to prevent and control potential outbreaks in the poultry industry. The reported dataset is of reads from RNA-Seq libraries consisting of approximately 130 gigabytes of RNA-sequencing data corresponding to blood, trachea and cloaca of chicken from various farms of North and South Kuwait regions. The sequences were quality-filtered and first mapped with the Chicken reference genome.

Machine Learning-Assisted Determination of CH Mole Fraction From Molecular Emissions of Laser-Induced Hexane-Air Plasmas.

Laser-induced plasmas of materials containing hydrocarbons present strong carbon molecular emission features. Using these emissions to build models relating changes in spectral features to a physical parameter of the system, such as hydrocarbon content, can be difficult because of the dynamic complexity of the spectral features and temperature disequilibrium between molecular species. This study presents machine learning models trained to quantify the mole fraction of hexane in hexane-air plasmas from CN Violet and C Swan spectral features.

Assessing the role of drought in dust storm formation in the Tigris and Euphrates basin.

Drought is a common meteorological phenomenon and one of the world's most costly natural hazards. A large part of the Tigris and Euphrates basin (TEB) is located in the arid and semi-arid regions of western Asia and suffers from drought. Drought has many destructive effects on the environment and human societies, among which the formation of dust storms, is a major global challenge.

AI-assisted systematic review on remediation of contaminated soils with PAHs and heavy metals.

This systematic review addresses soil contamination by crude oil, a pressing global environmental issue, by exploring effective treatment strategies for sites co-contaminated with heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Our study aims to answer pivotal research questions: (1) What are the interaction mechanisms between heavy metals and PAHs in contaminated soils, and how do these affect the efficacy of different remediation methods? (2) What are the challenges and limitations of combined remediation techniques for co-contaminated soils compared to single-treatment methods in terms of efficiency, stability, and specificity? (3) How do various factors influence the effectiveness of biological, chemical, and physical remediation methods, both individually and combined, in co-contaminated soils, and what role do specific agents play in the degradation, immobilization, or removal of heavy metals and PAHs under diverse environmental conditions? (4) Do AI-powered search tools offer a superior alternative to conventional search methodologies for executing an exhaustive systematic review? Utilizing big-data analytics and AI tools such as Litmaps.co, ResearchRabbit, and MAXQDA, this study conducts a thorough analysis of remediation techniques for soils co-contaminated with heavy metals and PAHs.

Nutrition and Health in Arab Adolescents (NaHAR): Study protocol for the determination of ethnic-specific body fat and anthropometric cut-offs to identify metabolic syndrome.

The prevalence of adolescent obesity in the Middle-East is considered among the highest in the world. Obesity in adolescents is associated with several cardiometabolic abnormalities, the constellation of which is referred to as the metabolic syndrome (MetS). This multi-country cross-sectional study aims to determine the optimal cut-off values for body fat (BF); body mass index (BMI) z-score; waist circumference (WC) percentile, and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) for the prediction of MetS among adolescents from Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Positive selection footprints and haplotype distribution in the genome of dromedary camels.

Dromedary camels are a domestic species characterized by various adaptive traits. Limited efforts have been employed toward identifying genetic regions and haplotypes under selection that might be related to such adaptations. These genetic elements are considered valuable sources that should be conserved to maintain the dromedaries' adaptability.

Sensing the dependable surficial signatures of temporal groundwater variations in arid coastal regions through geospatial techniques with respect to microclimate changes.

Reports on Groundwater level variations and quality changes have been a critical issue, especially in arid regions. An attempt has been made in this study to determine the surface manifestations of groundwater variations through processing imageries for determining the changes in land use, Normalized Differential Building Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Land Surface Temperature (LST), along with Groundwater level (GWL) and Electrical conductivity (EC). Decadal variation between these parameters for 2013 and 2023 shows that the average water level had increased by 1.

A numerical modelling approach to investigate the fate of brine reject of farm scale desalination plants on groundwater aquifers in arid environments.

Farm-scale desalination units are gaining popularity for agricultural irrigation in arid countries, such as Kuwait to meet freshwater demands. However, less attention has been given to the management of environmentally hazardous brine reject water they produce. In this study we investigated the fate of brine water produced by the inland desalination units on the underlying aquifers using numerical modelling and field investigations.

Conamonin A and dihydrochalcones from the whole plants of Conamomum rubidum (Lamxay & N.S.Lý) Škorničk. & A.D. Poulsen showing anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities.

A new compound, conamonin A (), was isolated from the whole plants of with eight known dihydrochalcones (-). Their structures were elucidated by a combination of spectroscopic methods as well as by comparison with previously reported data. The absolute configuration of was assigned by TDDFT-ECD method.

Transcriptome analysis of Sparidentex hasta larvae exposed to water-accommodated fraction of Kuwait crude oil.

Anthropogenic activities have been shown to significantly affect marine life. Water pollution and oil spills are particularly deleterious to the fish population, especially during their larval stage. In this study, Sobaity-sea bream Sparidentex hasta (Valenciennes, 1830) larvae were exposed to serial dilutions of water-accommodated fraction of Kuwait crude oil (KCO-WAF) for varying durations (3, 6, 24, 48, 72 or 96 h) in acute exposure regime.

Three-Dimensional Printed Annular Ring Aperture-Fed Antenna for Telecommunication and Biomedical Applications.

The design of the aperture-fed annular ring (AFAR) microstrip antenna is presented. This proposed design will ease the fabrication and usability of the 3D-printed and solderless 2D materials. This antenna consists of three layers: the patch, the slot within the ground plane as the power transfer medium, and the microstrip line as the feeding.

Techno-economic feasibility of a recycling plant for the extraction of metals and boehmite from hazardous petroleum spent catalysts.

Petroleum spent hydroprocessing catalysts are hazardous solid waste, the efficient recycling of which is a serious challenge to refineries. However, information on the economic feasibility of spent catalysts recycling plants is scarce, which is critical for environmental authorities and decision-makers. In this work, an innovative recycling scheme targeting hydrometallurgical recovery of base metals (Ni, Mo, and V) and transforming low-value Al residue into a high-value boehmite (γ-AlOOH) as the key product was considered an efficient way to beneficiate the hazardous spent hydroprocessing catalysts.

The tropiduchid planthopper genus Wang & Bourgoin, 2015: two new species from Central Vietnam and new records (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Tropiduchidae).

Two new planthopper species of the tropiduchid genus Wang & Bourgoin, 2015, Constant & Pham, , and Constant & Pham, are described from Bach Ma National Park and from the Centre for Conservation of Vietnam Natural Resources and Rescue of Animals and plants, Phong Dien District in Thua Thien-Hue Province, respectively. These new records greatly extend the distribution of the genus, which was known from southern China (Guangxi) and North Vietnam, to the south, reaching the mid area of Central Vietnam. New records are provided for Wang & Zhang, 2015, extending the distribution of the species from Cat Ba Island to a large zone in North Vietnam.

Deciphering the impact of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) on benthic foraminiferal communities: Insights from Cell-Tracker Green staining and eDNA metabarcoding.

This study investigates the ecotoxicological effects of BDE-209, a persistent organic pollutant (POP) prevalent in Kuwait's coastal-industrial areas, on benthic foraminiferal communities. We conducted a mesocosm experiment in which we exposed benthic foraminiferal communities sampled from the coastal-industrial areas of Kuwait to a gradient of BDE-209 concentrations (0.01 to 20 mg/kg).

A systematic review on NbO-based photocatalysts: Crystallography, synthetic methods, design strategies, and photocatalytic mechanisms.

With the increasing popularity of photocatalytic technology and the highly growing issues of energy scarcity and environmental pollution, there is an increasing interest in extremely efficient photocatalytic systems. The widespread immense attention and applicability of NbO photocatalysts can be attributed to their multiple benefits, including strong redox potentials, non-toxicity, earth abundance, corrosion resistance, and efficient thermal and chemical stability. However, the large-scale application of NbO is currently impeded by the barriers of rapid recombination loss of photo-activated electron/hole pairs and the inadequacy of visible light absorption.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates for Sustainable Aquaculture: A Review of Recent Advancements, Challenges, and Future Directions.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable biopolymers produced by prokaryotic microbes, which, at the same time, can be applied as single-cell proteins (SCPs), growing on renewable waste-derived substrates. These PHA polymers have gained increasing attention as a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics. One promising application of PHA and PHA-rich SCPs lies within the aquaculture food industry, where they hold potential as feed additives, biocontrol agents against diseases, and immunostimulants.

An annotated checklist of the Amphipoda (Crustacea) of Kuwait, north-western Arabian Gulf.

Kuwaits intertidal and subtidal habitats were surveyed from 2013 to 2016 for amphipods, and earlier records from Kuwait and the rest of the Gulf were compared to provide the first annotated checklist of Amphipoda in Kuwait. A total of 82 sites in mainland and islands were surveyed including intertidal and subtidal zones. The resulting data identified 86 amphipod taxa belonging to 54 genera, 32 families and 3 suborders, including 20 new records to science that are currently being described.